Snubbed Gay Cleric Considers Suing Church of England

Reports suggest that the Church of England’s most senior openly gay cleric, Dr. Jeffrey John, may be about to sue the Church for discrimination over his repeatedly being prevented from becoming a bishop.

This comes after John, who is celibate but in a civil partnership with a fellow priest, was made to give up a position as suffragan bishop in Reading in 2003, and was blocked from becoming a bishop of Southwark by the archbishops of Canterbury and York in 2010.

Reports on Sunday suggested John had become so exasperated at his treatment that he had hired Alison Downie, an employment and discrimination law specialist and partner at the law firm Goodman Derrick, to fight his case under equality law. Four years ago, Downie successfully represented a gay youth worker who was found to have been discriminated against by the bishop of Hereford because of his sexuality.

It is thought John’s case could hinge on a damning memorandum written by a former dean of Southwark Cathedral, which lays bare the divisions over sexuality at the very top of the church.

In the leaked memo, the late Very Rev Colin Slee described how both the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the archbishop of York, John Sentamu “behaved very badly” at a meeting to choose the bishop of Southwark in 2010, and “were intent on wrecking both Jeffrey John and [another candidate] Nick Holtam equally”.

The church has no official bar on appointing openly gay bishops, however the Church’s administration has discretionary powers to intervene where it feels appointments may bring about unrest or problems within that particular community.

John’s case, based on the UK’s sexual orientation-inclusive anti-discrimination legislation known collectively as the Equality Act, is already being marked as a potential escalation in what has been a continued and, religious leaders have warned, possible schism-making battle over the Church’s views on homosexuality.

Whether John would win such a case remains to be seen however, as the UK gives deference to religious institutions so that they may govern themselves and their internal politics based on their beliefs.

Regardless, the very fact that court action has even been rumored throws a spotlight back on the Church as it enters a year in which it must, at last, decide on another hot-button issue: women bishops. You can find out more about that here.

As to the lawsuit, no comment has yet been issued by Church leaders or John’s legal team.

Also, George M., I think we all agree that it's about qualification, but the thing is that it says he was "BLOCKED from becoming a bishop".

and the problem would be that the "Equality Act, is already being marked as a potential escalation in what has been a continued and, religious leaders have warned, possible schism-making battle over the Churchs views on homosexuality."

It's logical and sadly true...but that doesn't make it any less a concern.

The fact is there already is a schism... I'm catholic and I'm pro-choice (in many matters, including this)

The truth is it's only a great controversy because they'd be catering to the more liberal party if they let this pass...and religion is rarely famous for being liberal. Religion is after all about age-old teachings.

Mmmmm Ron? Your argument gets way into somebody else's pants and a godly nose such as yours does not belong there. I thinketh godly holy people should keep their minds out of the gutter. It seems all imaginary god's followers can think about is filthy sex 24/7. Get over it.
There's more to life.

Here we go again. The question is not his sexual orientation. The question is whether he is qualified. Will he be a bishop because he is gay or just because he deserves to be. I detest affirmative action in any situation.

Michele, you got that right, it's not imaginary "God" who discriminates, it's MEN!!! It's the MEN who wrote the BuyBull. A bunch of delusional wacko sand dudes invented a fairy god in THEIR OWN IMAGE. This "dream god" had all the power, knowledge and intelligence that THEY DIDN'T. Too bad their "god" was a figment of their imagination and NONEXISTENT. ALL religions are made up BS and only the uneducated believe these myths. Religions are political fronts for evil, war mongering rich people who perpetrate this crap on the masses so they can use them as slaves.